Takin' Care of Business
by Nightcrawlerlover
Summary: Oneshot. Inspired by the song Takin' Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Yami decides to help out the Scooby Gang with their money earning by getting a job of his own. However, the job is anything but what they think Yami would do. His answers are quite surprising, though.


**Hey there! Here's a new Buffy/Yu-Gi-Oh oneshot I cooked up while listening to the song Takin' Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive one day. It's amazing what ideas can be cooked up sometimes, especially when listening to music as well. :) **

**And this is AU, of course. (Don't ask me why I prefer to write stories and oneshots that are AU, of course. I just like to write about what would've happened if a character in a fandom had made a different choice in a familiar situation, or said something different when talking to another character.) **

**Disclaimer: Genius Joss Whedon owns Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kazuki Takahashi (also a genius) owns Yu-Gi-Oh. The lyrics to Takin' Care of Business by Bachman Turner-Overdrive at the beginning of this oneshot belong to their respective owners. I own the crossovers, ficlets and poems I cook up from time to time.**

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Takin' Care of Business

_You get up every morning  
From your alarm clock's warning  
Take the 8:15 into the city  
There's a whistle up above  
And people pushin', people shovin'  
And the girls who try to look pretty_

_And if your train's on time_  
_You can get to work by nine_  
_And start your slaving job to get your pay_  
_If you ever get annoyed_  
_Look at me, I'm self-employed_  
_I love to work at nothing all day_

_And I'll be..._  
_{Refrain}_  
_Taking care of business every day_  
_Taking care of business every way_  
_I've been taking care of business, it's all mine_  
_Taking care of business and working overtime_  
_Work out!_

_If it were easy as fishin'_  
_You could be a musician_  
_If you could make sounds loud or mellow_  
_Get a second-hand guitar_  
_Chances are you'll go far_  
_If you get in with the right bunch of fellows_

_People see you having fun_  
_Just a-lying in the sun_  
_Tell them that you like it this way_  
_It's the work that we avoid_  
_And we're all self-employed_  
_We love to work at nothing all day_

_And we be..._

_Taking care of business every day_  
_Taking care of business every way_  
_I've been taking care of business, it's all mine_  
_Taking care of business and working overtime_

-Bachman Turner Overdrive, **Takin' Care of Business**

It was a new December night in Sunnydale, California. However, nights in Sunnydale were never quiet or peaceful. There was always something going on, for one thing.

Even Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer, knew this all too well. She constantly would try to make Yami Yugi let her go with him whenever he went out into the night, which was so he could work off all that extra energy he seemed to have inside of him. However, Yami would usually pin her up against a wall and take her shoulders in a surprisingly gentle grip.

Finally, he would snap at her, but in an infuriatingly calm way that seemed to be one of his trademarks,

"Buffy, stay here. I can take care of myself, and I've got the Shadow Magic to prove it as well. You dig me?"

Those words would cause the Slayer to back off and admit that, as usual in that kind of situation, Yami was right. Finally, she would let him go – even though she would usually spend some of the night worrying her head off about him. Being worried about something or someone was probably a trait that every woman that was descended from Eve had. Worrying about big things or small things wasn't something that everyone else thought about – so it was, as usual, left up to not just the women, but the young girls as well.

To Buffy's sister Dawn, however, being all calm, cool and collected seemed to be quite something with Yami. Of course, she didn't seem to mind a bit – and would even tell Buffy off for being, as she would often eloquently put it, "so clingy and never giving Yami his space".

"But Dawn-"

"No buts, Buffy," Dawn replied once. "I know – well, **believe**, actually – that Yami is the kind of guy that can take care of himself. Do you have any idea why he is able to come back here safely, and without a scratch on him or a big tear in those clothes of his, too? Do you know what it's like for him to kill those vampires – and without the need for a sharp wooden stake, an ax or a sword, too? I sure do myself. He's told me about that so many times that I finally understand him very well."

One day at the Magic Box, Yami was in the back room, where Buffy usually did her training, and at the moment, having gone through the pre-exercise stretches and bends, he was practicing all kinds of flips – front-flips, back-flips and all sorts of ways to keep in shape, and get his exercise while he was at it. And, Dawn had to admit, he was doing quite an awesome job. He sure could move fast – almost similar to none other than the Duel Monster known as the Strike Ninja, which Duke Devlin, the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters, aka DDM for short, had informed her about.

Duke was a friend of Yami Yugi, as well as Dawn's boyfriend. He had taken a liking to her ever since his emerald eyes had taken notice of her. It was also obvious that right away he saw her as a great dancer, a beautiful young woman and a warrior, and not at all the Slayer's little kid sister that everyone else would see whenever they looked at Dawn – not one bit, to be precise. Plus, there was something Buffy liked about Duke, and that was his being gentlemanlike with Dawn, as well as treating her with respect and often leaving a decision up to her.

Sighing, Yami telekinetically lifted a towel and plucked it from the air before swiping it across his face and cleaning off the beads of perspiration that had made their appearance on his skin while he was going through his vigorous workout. He supposed that everyone felt like this after they had gone through some rigorous training or exercise program, so at least he knew he wasn't the only to feel like this after one of those, either.

Buffy was quite surprised upon seeing how Yami just used telekinesis to pick up a towel before swiping it out of thin air. In her view, he sure had the moves – that was for sure.

If only Larry Blaisdell could see Yami now. He would be in total shock, and maybe a little half-intrigued and half-jealous as well. Plus there would be the whole thing about ‛wishing he had what Yami had'. What Yami had that Larry didn't was quite something there as well. Yami had good looks, Shadow powers and, of course, the ability to take out the evil vampires and other bad guys with a Mind Crush.

For now, though, Yami headed back into the Magic Box and then stepped over to where Anya was behind the counter with the cash register, counting the money she had gotten from selling the stock bought by the customers that had come into the Magic Box as the day passed.

Yami smiled. Apparently, for someone who said she had flunked math when she had been in high school, Anya sure knew how to count money, and had pretty good retail skills as well.

With that, he then rose up into the air and floated over to Anya with his legs crossed like a monk in meditation. "Hello, Anya," he said.

Anya looked up and blinked in surprise upon seeing Yami floating in mid-air, but managed to keep a good hold on the money she had been counting – which came to 136 dollars. _Not bad for a day's work, _thought Yami. _Not bad at all. _

Anya, noticing Yami's gaze on the money she was holding, collected herself and said while motioning to the money, "Hey there, Yami. Not a bad sale for today especially. Looks like I did pretty well. Don't you agree, Yami?"

"Yeah, I agree," Yami replied, smiling still. "Not bad at all, I should say. In my mind, Anya, you really, definitely make a fine businesswoman."

Anya smiled at those words. A businesswoman – now there was a good thing for her to be if there ever was one. She knew that for sure. After all, she had a love of capitalism and money, so those were neat personality traits about her there, too.

Then, as Yami landed catlike on the floor and straightened up, Anya, having finished counting the money, then walked around the counter and up to Yami. She then whispered into his ear, "Yami, I just remembered something – an honest day's work must merit an honest day's pay."

Yami blinked, puzzled. "Really, Anya?"

Anya nodded. "Indeed. I think it's pretty cool, too." She then paused for a bit. "What about you, Yami?"

Yami thought for a few moments while Anya waited for him to answer. "Well," he said finally, "I think I've learned all sorts of things from you and Buffy. With you, Anya, it's about capitalism and money, as well as business. As for Buffy, she's taught me all sorts of martial arts moves, as well as how to fine-tune my senses. Now, thanks to her, I've been doing that to the point where I'm able to sense an enemy sneaking up behind me. Then I move myself out of the way by flying smoothly up into the air. As a result, my enemy misses knocking me to the ground and lands on said ground himself, or herself, depending on the circumstances. Quite painful, I must say."

Now it was Anya's turn to blink. Only, she was surprised. However, all the former vengeance demon could think of to say was "Wow".

Yami nodded. "Yeah. That can be quite something as well as indescribable, in my opinion. Very indescribable, indeed.

"You know," he added after a moment's pause, "I just had an idea."

"Really?" queried Anya.

"Yeah," Yami nodded. "For how I can make some money of my own."

"Like what?" Anya wondered.

Yami thought for a moment while Anya waited for him to answer. Lately, Anya had been working on her patience level, and so far, she'd been doing pretty well – with the exception of a few slip-ups now and then. Of course, Yami had been encouraging her to keep trying, while telling her that making mistakes was a part of life and that everyone made them.

"That's how we learn," he had said.

Now that she thought about it, Anya had decided that Yami was right about that.

She then pulled herself back to the present and focused on Yami, just as his crimson eyes suddenly brightened and he looked Anya straight in the eyes.

"Gather the gang together, and I will let you know," he said, his baritone voice now all businesslike.

Anya recognized the tone, having seen it with Seto Kaiba and how he did business transactions himself. So she quickly went into action, finding the Scoobies and letting them know about Yami wanting to meet with them...

* * *

"OK, Yami, what is it that's so important that you had to drag all of us into the back room of the Magic Box?" asked Buffy. Xander and the others agreed with her.

"Yeah," remarked Xander. "I mean, it has to be something big. Like a secret, maybe."

"Oh, it is, Xander. It is," Yami replied.

After gathering his thoughts together, Yami then locked eyes with every one of the Scooby Gang – Anya, Andrew Wells, Dawn, Buffy, Xander, Duke, Giles, Willow and Tara.

Finally, it was then that he dropped his secret out in the open. However, judging from their reactions, it was quite the bombshell, though.

"Uh, Yami," said Giles as he pulled his glasses off and began to clean the lenses, as per his habit, "as much as you want to help us out – which is quite nice, as well as very sweet and thoughtful, I might add – well, can't you just try for something different?"

"Yeah." It was Willow this time. "I-I mean, there's all sorts of diseases you can get from that kind of work, that is, if-if you're not careful."

After Yami listened to those sorts of objections from the others, basically Dawn, Tara, Duke and Andrew, he shook his head while smiling at the same time before telling them, "You forget that I have Shadow powers for protection both from diseases and just in case someone tries to attack me with or without a weapon. So I'll be perfectly safe."

Then, Buffy said, "Oh, Yami, do you really want to do **that **kind of work? I've heard that people, especially women, get killed by serial killers in that line of work. I mean, look at Jack the Ripper; he was an example of a serial killer, and he killed those kinds of people."

Then it was Xander's turn to offer his thoughts on Yami's idea for how he wanted to earn extra money and help the Scoobies out at the same time. He cleared his throat a few times before saying, "Wow. Uh, Yami, you want to actually want to... practice the world's oldest profession? Just to earn your own money and help us out at the same time?"

Yami shrugged as he narrowed his eyes at the same time. "Why not? Who says that all people who do that kind of work are female? There are guys who did that kind of work before they became famous, but that's because they needed the money, which was usually in order to pay the bills," he replied.

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**Well, that's the end of this oneshot. I might cook up a sequel to this one where Yami goes and works the streets, but only goes after those who are evil (like somebody who refers to himself as a modern-day Jack the Ripper) and either uses his Shadow powers to knock them out or put them in a coma, and then takes their money.**

**Anyway, feedback is appreciated – especially the nice kind, as that is exactly what keeps me writing and cooking up more stories, oneshots and crossovers. **

**~Nightcrawlerlover**


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